Case Number 19419: Small Claims Court

JUST ANOTHER DAY (BLU-RAY)

The Charge

Music. Money. Mayhem. Monotony.

The Case

It's a heralded Wire reunion -- or so the blazing Blu-ray cover art
would declare. Two of the celebrated HBO series' actors -- Jamie Hector and Wood
Harris -- turn up in this tepid look at a day in the life of two hip hop
musicians. On the low end of the rap totem pole is Young Eastie (Hector). He's
just cut his first demo and while skilled way beyond the normal ability to pay
the bills, he's stuck struggling in a bad section of Miami. If he could just get
his music to high profile icon A-Maze (Harris), he's sure he'd be the next MTV
superstar. As luck would have it, a gang war breaks out between rival Haiti drug
dealers, making Eastie's goal of tracking down his idol and handing him a sample
CD all the more perilous. For A-Maze, things aren't much better. His career has
stalled and a rival rapper named B-Bone (Petey Pablo) has "beef" with
him -- beef that may turn ugly...or deadly. With violence all around and the
clock ticking away, Eastie and his target are headed for a confrontation that
could change both of their lives...forever!

It's only taken a couple of decades, but the entire hip-hop/rap genre is now
ensconced in a set of cultural clichés that no egotistical Kanye West
wannabe can truly avoid. From the moment someone opens their mouth and starts
spitting rhymes, an overkill of cultural relevance and media hand wringing
defines the who, what, when, where, and why of their career. We get the standard
broken home/hustle and flow facets of family, the "keeping it real"
reasons for the shady friends and faux criminal stance, and the various
commercial cover-ups that turn talented lyricists and bright MCs into marketable
menaces to the society. Granted, some in the game actually earn their rep,
having their questionable past propelling them to, hopefully, rise above. On the
other hand, many manipulate their image pre-hit, secure in the knowledge that
such a charged representation will get the attention of the already
disenfranchised adolescents that drive iTunes downloads.

All of this is a way of saying that much of Just Another Day is just
another example of urban culture exploited and then left unexplained. We are
supposed to catch on to the behavioral 'buzzwords' -- dicey home life,
"wrong crowd" issues, the need for quick money via the streets, the
ubiquitous drive toward fame and equally elusive lure of fast cash, the soul
sucking savagery of such success, the equally omnipresent bull's eye on one's
back -- and then settle back to watch the action unfold. Instead of applying a
more personal approach (as in the Biggie Smalls biopic Notorious),
Just Another Day consistently bites the hand that hypes it. Sure, we get
cautions left and right about dreams becoming nightmares, and no rap stereotype
goes by without critical comment. But for someone who made his name in
documentaries, director Peter Spirer brings none of said authenticity to this
fictional features. He perhaps knows the business better than anyone (seek out
his excellent Rhyme & Reason expose for proof) and yet he easily
courts formula and over-familiarity to strike his dramatic chords.

Luckily, Spirer has two fine actors as his leads, both Hector and Harris
adding the performance nuance and gravitas the script frequently avoids. Though
it's not much of a stretch to see them as street smart survivors working their
way through pain and the perilous realities of thug life, they help maintain a
sense of legitimacy that other elements -- and some very amateurish supporting
players -- fail to capture. The soundtrack is also solid, offering some fresh
(if still familiar) beats to the already bulging hip-hop canon. One has to give
this movie credit for showing how the problems of the novice are reflective --
and equally precarious -- as the dilemmas haunting the celebrated, and some of
the time, Just Another Day does crackle with energy and intensity. Fans
of the sonic category, and those unable to escape the oppressive push of the
post-modern marketing machine, however, will feel a sense of déjà vu
that works against the film's better judgments.

As far as the high definition technical specifications go, Image
Entertainment gives us an interesting direct from video transfer that helps
bring the hot spot feel of Miami to life. The 1080p/AVC encode does expose the
processes limits, with exterior shots frequently suffering from overexposed or
"blown out" skies and faces. Yet the rest of the color scheme is
excellent, and there is a nice level of detail in the 1.78:1 letterboxed
picture. Perhaps more importantly, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix does
a magnificent job of bringing the various hip-hop tracks to bass-rattling life.
You get all the nuance in the music and then some. Sadly, the speaker system
overall gets little workout once the tunes die down. There is a real forced
stereo feel to the dialogue, with little happening off the sides and everything
coming out front and center. We expect some ambient noises to bubble behind us.
Unfortunately, it takes the standard rap tracks to bring the back channels to
life.

As for added content, it's pure EPK territory. We get some interesting
interviews as part of the movie making-of, and even more appealing insights as
part of a behind the scenes on the music. But that's about it. The deleted
scenes are non-essential and the trailer feels tacked on. Had Peter Spirer found
a novel way of combining his true life knowledge of the genre with the needs of
cinematic fiction, Just Another Day would play much, much better. As it
stands, it's mildly entertaining if wholly derivative.

The Verdict

Guilty -- makes one long for the days of Kurtis Blow and Afrika Bambaataa.